Erik Baard

Erik Baard researched and reported on the United Nations and American society for Japanese media and was a staff reporter covering the energy industry for Dow Jones Newswires, with contributions to the Wall Street Journal. He has written for Popular Science, the New York Times, the Times of London, the New York Times Magazine, the Village Voice, SPACE.com, Wired News, Space News, Chief Executive Magazine, the Industry Standard, Praxis Post, other technology publications.  

Erik's revelations about the Chinese organ transplant trade—the first reporter to document that patients were leaving the U.S. to procure them from China's death row—won the 2002 best reporting award from the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for non-daily news. That article succeeded where FBI sting operations failed. He was again a finalist for that award in 2003 for being the first reporter to reveal what would become known as the controversial Total Information Awareness program. An article he wrote about genetic warfare is part of the "Readings for the 21st Century" textbook and his writings have been incorporated into course materials at several universities.

On 9-11, he was the first to report in English on Arab New Yorkers' reactions to the attack, and soon after filed a report detailing concerns about long-lasting damage to health from the smoke and dust spewing from the World Trade Center. Federal documents to that effect were revealed two years later. He was also the first to note in text the absence of condensation trails in the sky on 9-11 when planes were grounded, a shared observation that later proved valuable to climate studies.

Erik has been featured on radio and television programs in the U.S. and abroad, and online at sites including Slashdot.org, SciTechDaily.com, and Plastic.com. He sold a science fiction movie option to Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures and is also writing children's books.

Erik's photographs have been sold to Time Out New York, Radar, Newsweek online/MSNBC, the Village Voice, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hudson River Watertrail Guide.

Further information about Erik may be found on his home page.